Chinese missile moves near Taiwan worry U.S.

By Bill Gertz

June 07, 2001

Washington -- China is mobilizing some of its short-range
missiles near Taiwan as other military forces are engaged in the
largest war games in five years, according to U.S. intelligence
officials. The missile activity at two bases across the Taiwan Strait
is raising concerns inside the Pentagon that China's military may be
set for test missile firings at Taiwan - similar to 1996 missile
flight tests that led to a U.S.-China confrontation.

According to officials with access to U.S. intelligence reports, a
U.S. spy satellite photographed several CSS-6 missiles at a base in
Fujian province that was used for training exercises in the past but
is normally left unoccupied.

Two transporter-erector launchers loaded with CSS-6s were spotted in
the open at the training base. Six others were in sheds and an
unspecified number of other missiles were hidden under camouflage
nearby, the officials said.

"The missile unit occupied a base that is only used for
training," said one official. The exact location of the missile
training base could not be confirmed. One official said it was located
at Fuzhou, directly across the strait from Taipei.

China has built several missile bases in Fujian province over the
past several years, including the two newest ones at Xianyou and
Yongan. The regional command headquarters for the short-range missile
forces is located at Leping.

U.S. intelligence agencies reported in March that a new base for
CSS-7 short-range missiles was completed at Xianyou - about 135 miles
across the Taiwan Strait from the island.

Additionally, part of a CSS-7 brigade recently left another base
opposite Taiwan for a mobile deployment exercise, the officials said.

The missiles are among the more than 300 CSS-6s and CSS-7s, also
known as M-9s and M-11s, that China has deployed opposite Taiwan in
the past several years. Administration national security officials
have said China plans to deploy up to 600 missiles at bases opposite
Taiwan.

The Pentagon views the continuing, large-scale missile deployment as
destabilizing. The weapons can attack all of Taiwan's military bases
with little or no warning, according to a recent Defense Intelligence
Agency assessment.

A Chinese government-owned newspaper in Hong Kong, Wen Wei Po,
reported earlier this week that the "large-scale" beach
landing exercises centered on Dongshan island will involve 100,000
troops, along with naval and air forces.

The last time Chinese forces conducted a similar amphibious landing
exercise was November 1995, the newspaper said.

As part of that exercise, Chinese missile forces fired several
short-range missiles in provocative flight tests that hit waters near
the northern and southern tips of Taiwan.

A respected nongovernment Hong Kong newspaper, Ming Pao, reported
Tuesday that the exercise had begun with "tens of thousands"
troops from several regions near Fujian province moving toward
Dongshan island. It said the war games would continue for two weeks.

"It is pointed out that the main aim of the exercise will be to
attack and occupy Taiwan's offshore islands and counterattack U.S.
military intervention," the newspaper stated.

Commercial aircraft were routed around Dongshan, and Chinese marines
had taken control of the ferry between the island and mainland.

One source told the newspaper that the exercise involved electronic
warfare operations, and that the Chinese military for the first time
was using reconnaissance satellites and satellite navigation systems.

The exercise reportedly kicked off Monday night with an airborne
assault on Dongshan.

In reaction to the 1996 missile tests, the Pentagon dispatched two
aircraft carrier battle groups to waters near Taiwan in a show of
force. China reacted by building up its military capability to attack
U.S. ships, including the purchase of two Russian Sovremenny-class
guided-missile destroyers equipped with SSN-22 supersonic anti-ship
missiles.

Until the recent missile activity, Pentagon spokesmen have
downplayed a series of Chinese military exercises taking place along
China's coasts.

The first exercises took place on Woody island in the South China
Sea, where China has built an airstrip for projecting its power into
strategic sea lanes. Several thousand Chinese marines, accompanied by
several warships, stormed ashore on the island as part of maneuvers
last week.

While the Woody island war games were under way, China's northern
navy conducted a sudden dispersal exercise that is normally conducted
before a military attack or for protecting ships in port from bad
weather.

Then in what officials called "phase two" of regional war
games, the Chinese began massing more than 200 amphibious warfare
vehicles on Dongshan island.

The official Chinese military newspaper also reported this week that
a Chinese bomber division practiced low-level bombing runs May 28 as
part of another exercise.

The source also told the government-owned newspaper that the war
games are practice for testing new tactics and for "quickly
launching and winding up a war." It also will help troops study "ways
of applying new-type equipment and translating new type equipment into
fighting capacity through real operations."

Some Pentagon officials believe the war games could be preparation
for military action by Chinese forces against an outlying Taiwanese
island, or as part of sabre-rattling designed to intimidate the Taipei
government.

Sun Yuxi, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Tuesday in
Beijing that the war games are routine and normal.